Ohio State finished 25-10 after bowing out against Dayton in the first round of the NCAA tournament in March – its earliest exit from the Big Dance since 2009.

The goal, of course, is to go further next season. But the Buckeyes will need to find a way to replace leading scorer LaQuinton Ross and program stalwarts in Lenzelle Smith Jr. and Aaron Craft.

The early candidates to lead that charge are Thompson, senior guard Shannon Scott, sophomore forward Marc Loving, redshirt freshman guard Kam Williams and center Amir Williams. This was the team's starting lineup Friday night, according to team spokesman Dan Wallenberg:

Ohio State also added Anthony Lee, a senior transfer from Temple, and Trevor Thompson, a sophomore transfer from Virginia Tech, to help its efforts under the rim. A freshman class that's been touted as one of the nation's best with Bates-Diop, D'Angelo Russell, Jae'Sean Tate and David Bell will should give the Buckeyes depth, too.

Russell, who some have pegged to contribute immediately, did not play Friday:

Do you guys ever listen to yourselves? '...but Thad better find some time for KBD early and often.'. You're got a 1st name thing with good ol Thad? Did you stand in front of the mirror when you let everyone know what Thad better do?

Replacing Ross and Smith will be fairly easy, they weren't world beaters by any means. Russell, Lee, KBD, and Williams will more than make up for the loss of those two. Hopefully Scott can make us not miss Craft's defense and energy on the court.

Ross used 28% of possessions last season in B1G play and had an offensive rating of 114.6. He was also one of the two best rebounders that Ohio State had. It is an enormous hole. Offensively you get a lot of addition by subtraction with Craft and Smith out. Trying to fill the offensive void left by those three players combined is certainly easier to accomplish than trying replace Ross with just one guy. That still leaves his rebounding to make up though.

I am really excited to see this team on the court. I have no doubts that points will come easier and from more options. Let's not forget that we've enjoyed an enormous amount of success with the "old way", though, and that a transition will have some bumps. KBD looks like the real deal, though.

I wish there was more coverage of this game. With Russel not playing, Scott obviously had to play more minutes than intended, as Thad kept everyone around 20 minutes last game. The question is, when Scott was out who ran the point? Point guard certainly is low in terms of depth, and I could imagine losing a game or two because Scott and Russell run into foul trouble and there isn't a defined #3 ballhandler.

Sounds like it might be hard to keep KBD out of starting lineup. Nice numbers for Tate yesterday- as he's been re-habing that shoulder. 17 turnovers not good but given the competition I imagine the game turned into "barn ball". I am ready for the season to start but Urban hasn't even ran his team out there yet! Keep the roundball info coming- can't get enough.